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Surrogacy In Australia

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Simply, surrogacy involves an agreement between a commissioning couple and a woman, known as the surrogate, who agrees to bear a child for the commissioning couple, and once the baby is born, will give the baby to the commissioning couple. Often this involves the use of sperm and/or ova from the commissioning couple which are conceived to the surrogate using birth technologies. The act of commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia, however in certain states and the Northern Territory it is still legal to travel overseas to seek out such services commercially. The Australian couple the article focuses on is a prime example of this as they travelled to New Delhi in India to seek out such a surrogacy service.
Already this questions the effectiveness …show more content…

Despite the consular staff delaying the granting of the visa, and claiming that they did all they could to persuade the couple to bring home both children, the fact that they were unsuccessful highlights another ineffective feature of the legal system in achieving justice. To make this worse also, is that the couple allege that the child was adopted in some manner, however money had changed hands during this adoption. This shows the ineffectiveness of the response as the care of the child was not upheld to the highest extent possible, by either the parents or the Australian response. On a minor note also, if money had changed hands during the adoption, the case may be tantamount to human trafficking and a criminal offence, however it is unlikely that any investigation will be pursued, and thus deeming human rights conventions redundant, and thus the response …show more content…

Justice Bryant has described the situation, and defended the consular staff, saying that they were and are operating in a “…legal vacuum where the laws are far from straightforward or clear.” Whilst Mr Pascoe described his concern that the issue has not received the rightful attention it deserves. These legal responses are commendable of Justice Bryant and Mr Pascoe as they are effective in driving change for these issues.
This article has little reference to non-legal responses in the case of this issue for achieving just outcomes. The media are portrayed as being effective in that they have done a commendable job in effectively conveying the message and relevant information, further adding to the push for a national inquiry and potential law reform, however the media reporting this is the ABC, a government funded organisation. They have however been effective in their

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